Angels Come Flying In
by YukinoHana705
Summary: After Terminus the group of survivors get picked up by a group of pilots going by the name Angel Flights, who have a network of secured airports across country. When they decide to take the offer of sanctuary, they end up in Oregon. Have they found the elusive safe sanctuary?
1. Angels Come to Town

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own The Walking Dead or any characters you recognize from the show, I am just playing with them and will return them (mostly) unharmed.

This story is set after S5 E1 "No Sanctuary" and is AU from that point on, so that means no Alexandria or Hilltop. I am going to assume that The Prison is located at the same place as the Lee Arrendale Correctional Facility in Alto, GA and Terminus is somewhere between Cornelia, GA and Toccoa, GA on the Squaw Creek Southern Rail-line. Should give you some basic RL geography to go by.

Chapter 1: Angels Come To Town

The ragtag group of survivors had continued to follow, just out of sight, the rail tracks north. Two days after escaping Terminus Daryl had seen the signs of a group passing and had informed Rick. After talking with Ford, they decided to see who the group was and if they were from Terminus. Better safe than sorry, was the consensus.

The group fanned out to surround the smaller group of four men when they found them. After making sure everybody was in place Rick and Daryl stepped into the clearing where the men were camped. The men startled and reached for their weapons when they saw him.

"Hands where I can see them", Rick demanded taking aim at one of the men's head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We aren't causing any trouble and mean no harm", the oldest man said raising his hands above his head. He looked about Hershel's age in a jean jacket with a pair of wings in flight sewn over the right breast pocket and the name Pete sewn over the left.

"Where did you come from?", Rick asked.

"We came from the south a bit, doing some scouting. Was returning to the rest of our group up north a bit farther", the old man answered.

"Why were you scouting around here?" Daryl demanded. The men exchanged a look.

"Answer the question", Rick said taking a step closer to the men.

"We are new to the area, was just seeing who was around.", the old man answered them, "My name is Pete, by the way. Now why don't you lower your gun and lets talk like civilized people."

Rick relaxed his aim but didn't put his gun away and motioned for Daryl to lower his crossbow. The men in the clearing breathed a sigh a relief once the weapons were no longer aimed at them.

"I'm Rick, this is Daryl. We just came from the south, got captured at Terminus."

"Joey. You the ones to blow the place to kingdom come?", one of the other men asked. He looked in his mid 20s with blond hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin.

Rick nodded, "Something like that."

"Good riddance to bad rubbish. Names Terrence", the third man introduced himself. He was dark skinned and wiry with a complicated weave in his black hair.

"I hear the restless shifting in the woods. Why don't you invite the rest of your group to join us?" Pete said.

Rick glanced at Daryl who whistled the "All Clear". The four men watched with curiosity as the rest of the group trickled into the clearing and gathered around and behind Rick, Tyreese with Judith being the last.

Pete whistled in awe, "Damn, had no clue there were so many of you. Heard some movement, figured there were only 3 to 4 of you." He shrugged, "Oh well", Pete clapped the last guy, the one Rick had held at gun point, on the shoulder, "This is Roberto, he's mute. Can hear fine and make some basic noises, just cant speak." He gave a quick wave when he was introduced.

Daryl had been watching the men and had noticed all of the had the wings in flight on their coats. "Whats with the wings?" He asked pointing them out the rest of the group.

"It's just something our group started wearing. Where you headed?" Pete said.

Ford answered "Eugene here knows the cure. We got to get him to D.C. so he can end this shit storm."

The men exchanged another speaking glance before Terrence spoke up. "We got a base at an airfield a few miles north of here with connecting bases all the way to Pennsylvania. We could get you to Eastern Virginia by air and gather an escort to get you the rest of the way to where you need to go. If you want."

"Me, Rosarita, and Eugene would appreciate the ride and escort. Don't know where the rest of the group are headed", Ford said.

"We are just looking for somewhere safe", Rick explained.

Terrence nodded, "Well you are in luck then. Because the Angels have come to town." The other men chuckled before Joey explained. "We call ourselves the Angel Flights. We got bases from the west coast to the east coast and anywhere in between. Got a booming trade route through the skies with communities all over the country. I'm sure we can find somewhere you could fit in, no matter where you want to go."

"Really?" exclaimed Carl, "That's cool!"

"Yep, so if you want to join us at base and are willing to answer a few questions we should be able to find a good fit for you guys."

The survivors exchanged looks between themselves and Glenn said, "Not sound ungrateful, but we just got suckered into a "sanctuary" and then were nearly killed. How do we know you guy are legit?" The others voiced their agreement to Glenn's words.

"Well, uh, I guess you are just gonna have to trust your gut and each other. The choice is up to you, we aren't gonna make you come with us, but we will show you on a map where the base is and you could come in when you want. We will even give you tokens for the gates so our people know you talked with us and have an invitation," Pete offered, "Take the night to talk about it amongst yourselves and you can let us know in the morning. In the meantime, why don't you get setup for the night and join us for supper?"

The group of survivors setup a watch and the rest wandered over to see what was in the pot over the fire. "Mmmm, that smells delicious," Carol said, "Where did you find the spices?"

"One of the groups we trade with grows them," Pete answered using a cup to dip out some of the stew, "Got chicken and vegetable stew." He picked up a packet from beside the fire and showed it to her, "Another one of the groups takes the spices and adds cooked dried chicken, vegetables, and noodles to them then packages them, just add water and boil." He took a sip out of the cup, then offered it for her to try.

"Its like those premade soup packs I used to buy at the store!" Carol exclaimed as she took a sip of the broth and hummed and then passed the cup on to Maggie for her to try. " Tastes like my momma used to make it!" she exclaimed taking another drink before passing it to Glenn.

"Yep, Joey get a few more cups and bowls out and grab another soup packet and some more water." Joey nodded and went over to their packs to dig out three extra cups and two bowls with another packet and brought them to Pete who handed him an empty jug. "Take Roberto with you." Pete said.

"Sure, c'mon Robbie lets go get some water." Daryl melted out of the trees and followed them to the stream and back. Pete nodded his thanks and offered the hunter a cupful of soup when they got back. Daryl took the cup with a gruff thanks then went back to where he was sitting on the edge of the firelight. "Don't speak much, does he?" "He speaks when he needs to," Rick said.

Pete motioned to Judith in Rick's lap, "Can she eat solids yet or does it need to be mashed for her?" Rick looked down at Judith, "She should be fine with just the broth." "Nonsense, Robbie will you toss me some of that supplement powder?" Robbie dug around in the pack and then tossed a small container to Pete who dipped out some of the broth and added a little of the powder to it and stirred it in. "There that should be a little more filling than just the broth, keep her full longer too." "Thank you." Rick said as he fed Judith carefully out of the cup.

"Well I hope the rest of you don't mind sharing bowls, doesn't look like we got enough to go around," Terrence said as he filled the rest of the bowls and handed them out. "It's your food, why don't you eat? I'm sure we can find something else." Sasha said. Pete chuckled, "My wife would skin me if I didn't feed you. Go ahead and eat, that's why I had Joey and Robbie go get the extra water, so we could make another batch. Besides these packets are only supposed to feed up to six anyway, there would've been enough to go around, but everybody would've still gone to bed hungry. I don't know about you folks, but I haven't had to do that for a good long time."

When Terrence had dipped the last bit out of the pan he poured some fresh water in and built up the fire so it would boil faster. Terrence gestured to them, "Go ahead and eat, next batch should be done in 15 minutes or so, and I want one of those bowls!", he joked. With that reassurance the ones with food started eating. Everyone made pleased sounds at the first bite, then finished as quickly as they could.

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later the next batch was done and handed out to the ones that didn't get a bowl the first time. The clearing was filled with more pleased hums as the rest of the group finished the second batch. "That was good." Bob said, "I might come with you just for the food," He joked. The men chuckled.

"We best turn in for the night. You folks are welcome to the fire so you can decided what you are doing in the morning." Pete said as he stood up, the rest of the Angels followed him to their bedrolls.

After they had settled down and fallen asleep Tyreese spoke up, "I don't know about you guys, but I was thinking of going with them, just to see what they got to offer."

"I agree," said Tara, "I get a good feeling about them."

"They knew we had surrounded them," Michonne said, "They knew and let us do it."

Daryl nodded in agreement, "They wanted us to feel secure, when we came back from getting the water they reset some sort of alarm system around the camp. They knew we were here before we did."

"I didn't hear an alarm of any kind when we came in, did you?" Glenn asked.

"Nope, asked the kid, Joey, how it worked. He said that when it is triggered, it sends a tone to their ear pieces, that they use to communicate with each other. So no external sound to alert the trespassers they have been caught."

"How do they know when its Walkers and not people?" Maggie asked.

"Said it reads heat signatures, Walkers have a low body temp so it is a different tone than one of a live human."

"That pretty ingenious," Sasha said and the rest of them agreed.

"So the question is, do we go with them in the morning or not?" Rick asked.

"Why don't we do a show of hands?" Carol said, "All those who think we should go with them?" Everybody raised their hands. "Well looks like its unanimous, we are going with them. Let get some sleep and we will tell them in the morning." Rick said.

"I'll keep watch," Daryl said, "I don't care if they do have the fancy alarm system, I feel too exposed to sleep without someone keeping watch." "I'll join you," Glenn said. Rick nodded, "Me and Carol will relieve you in a few hours so you can get some sleep," he said. Carol agreed as she laid near the fire.


	2. The Wood Ranch

Chapter 2: The Wood Ranch

One Month Earlier:

Alexa was walking the property lines checking the warning system and antennas after a big windstorm had blown through the last couple of days when she got a warning someone was at the gate. Turning in that direction she took off at an easy jog to see who was there.

"Hey Joe, what brings you out here? Aren't you supposed to be at the tower?" the kid was around 18 with brown hair and hazel eyes with the familiar wings on his right chest. "Yeah, but got a special request for the next shipment from HQ. They said they wanted 15 of the Mighty Man packs." "15's a lot of packs what do they need those for?" The kid grinned, "We reached the East Coast last week. Need them for the scouting parties." "Well damn, what do I get for them?" "We found a stash of batteries in Montana." "You got my attention." "HQ said you could have one." "Just one? How bout 5?" "Thats three packs per battery, how bout two?" "Four." "Three." "You got yourselves a deal! Three batteries in exchange for 15 packs." They shook hands and Joe headed back to the Gator he had used to get out to the Ranch. Alexa watched til he was out of sight before pressing the two buttons on the band she had around her neck. "Hey Sammy, get 15 of those Mighty Mans together to go out on the next shipment." "Aww, c'mon Alexa, I got to get the greenhouse to finish and tag the animals that are gonna be butchered this year. Get Jozie and Jake to do it, they ain't doing nothing." "They better be doin somethin! We got too much to get done before the rains start for anyone to be sittin on their hands." "They were making lye for the soaps, but after they got that all setup, I haven't seen them." Another voice chimed in. Alexa let go of the buttons and started cussin, after a few minutes she got back on the line. "Has anybody seen Jozie and Jake in the last hour?" She got a round of No's and one of the girls said, "I saw them heading into the woods about 45 minutes ago. Figured the were just getting some more plants for drying." "Did ya see if they had comms?" "I don't know, I just assumed they did. They know we're not supposed to leave the yard without them." Alexa let go of the buttons again, "Son of a bitch, if those two have wandered off to fuck again I'm gonna kill them myself!" She pressed the buttons again, "Did ya notice what direction they were heading?" "Up the road is all I noticed." "Alright thanks Lara, I'll see if I can find them and drag them back to the house."

She set off back towards the house keeping an eye out for signs of the two teenagers. "Damn hormonal teenagers. How the hell did I get stuck with a houseful of damn hormonal teenagers when shit hit the fan? Huh! What did I do to deserve this?!" She ranted as she went. About 3/4 of the way back to the house she noticed where they had left the road and headed into the woods. With a grim expression she followed the tracks for a hundred feet before she heard them. She snuck up on them and got within 5 feet of them before she spoke. "What the hell do you think you are doing?!" The two teenagers yelped and pulled apart real quick. "You realize if I was one of the dead, you'd be dead now?! I got within 5 feet of you and you didn't even see me! Too busy sucking face and groping each other! Get your asses back to the house! There's work needs done!"

Jozie sniffed, "I don't see why some of the others can't do some of it." "Girl this ain't no place for your pampered princess routine! Everybody else does their share of the work and you gotta too! So get that nose outta the air 'fore I chop it off and get your ass back to the house and get your chores done! It's been damn near six months since you got here and you still skirting chores and handing them off to someone else because you think your too good for 'em! I tell ya next time you pull this shit I'm sending you out to The Orphanage and Jake'll be stayin here! I don't make empty promises neither, Girl! Now GET!" Jozie huffed and flounced of into the trees toward the house while Jake stood there with his head hung.

"As for you, you know better'n this shit! What got inta your head to leave the yard without your Comm, huh? Thinkin' with your southern head instead of the one on your shoulders is somethin that'll get you killed out here nowadays and you know it! Don't get drawn into her drama bullshit and quit skippin out on yer chores. Now get back to the house, we got a special order of 15 Mighty Mans that need put together before the next shipment in three days." Jake turned and started back to the house.

Alexa sighed and and activated her Comm. "I found 'em. Jozie should be comin in first. Can somebody please make sure she gets her chores done? I hate askin cause I know how busy everybody is, but please?" "No problem Alexa, I'll keep an eye on her." "Thanks Liz, I appreciate it. She gives you any trouble let me know." She sighed again and started back to the house.

When she made it back to the yard she stood at the top of the hill and made sure everybody was were they were supposed to be then started down the hill to the house. When she made it to the house she went in to the office/communications room where Lara was manning the radio and writing something in a spiral notebook. "Whatcha doin Lara Bear?" "I think we need more people to help out around here," she said, "I think we need at least 7 more but 10 would be better." "Now see I agree with you on that but is 17 people a sustainable number for us?" "Huh?" Alexa chuckled, "If we were suddenly cut off from the supply route could 17 people survive on what we got for, say six months?" "Oh, I didn't think of that." Lara said sheepishly, "How do we know?"

Alexa went over to the shelf and got 4 binders off of it. "These are our counts on things like Animal Products," pointing to the yellow binder, "Which include the eggs, goat milk, and butchering animals." She pointed to the green one, "This is what we got in the greenhouse and garden, plus what we can gather on the property." She pointed to the brown one, "This is the current inventory of the pantry, and this one," she said pointing to the blue one, "is our products that we use for trade and the ingredients needed for them. You have to take all of this into consideration to decide if we can sustain with an additional 10 people." "Oh! How do you figure out if you have enough?" "First look at the pantry, it has been inventoried at least once a week for the last two years. See what gets used the most and what doesn't and how much of each is used." She said pulling a chair to sit down beside Lara. "Then you have to keep in mind this is just for 7 people, you have to add about 200% to it so we would triple our pantry." "Why triple? There aren't gonna be that many people." "Because you always want more than you need so if things get really rough you have enough." "Oh, I understand, so if it was like it was at the beginning we aren't starving." "Exactly."

The two worked on their sustainable number for the next few hours. Alexa explaining how she was getting her numbers as she went. When they were done Alexa sat back. "So according to the calculations, can we practically sustain 17 people on the resources we have?" Lara looked at her notebook and nodded, "Yes!" "Well alright then, I'll ask Pete to keep an eye out for some extra hands for us. Sound good?" "Yep!" "C'mon, lets get supper started before the rest of them starve." Alexa pushed away from the desk and went out the door to the top floor of the house where the kitchen was. "Can we watch a movie tonight?" Lara asked. Alexa shrugged, "Sure, should be fine, just one though, everybody has to be up early to start getting the animals butchered and processed." "OK!" Lara said excitedly. Alexa chuckled, "C'mon girl wash yer hands and help me get supper made 'fore you get lost on what movie you want to watch, besides its Seren's turn to pick." "Awww, hes gonna pick one of those movies with explosions and stuff. I want to watch something good!" "Well he thinks those types of movies are good. You just want to watch one of those sappy romances." Alexa teased. "Yep!" they both laughed until Alexa's comm came online. "Alexa we got a problem out here. I need some help, Liz and Jozie are trying to tear each other apart." "Damn!" She activated her comm. "I'll be right down, where are ya?" "Far end of the chicken coops." "Alright be right there, Sam." She looked at Lara, "You okay getting supper started?" "Yeah I'm good," Lara answered, "Go kick that spoiled princess's butt!" Alexa chuckled as she started down the stairs and out of the house to the chicken coops.

She heard them before she saw them, Jozie was screaming at the top of her lungs about chicken shit in her hair and on her clothes, while Liz was was calling her everything but a white girl. She rounded the corner and saw Sam holding Jozie with her arms pinned trying to stay between the two girls. Alexa waded into the fray and grabbed Liz by the collar and threw her off of Sam. "Don't!" She said pointing at Liz who had started back. Then she turned and slapped Jozie across the face, "Shut up yer caterwailin girl, yer gonna bring the whole county down on us!" Jozie stopped screaming with a look of shock on her face. "You hit me!" "I'm gonna do more than slap you if you don't shut up!" Alexa took a deep breath and motioned for Sam to let Jozie loose. When she was standing on her own she looked between the two girls, "Now anybody want to tell what happened?" Jozie just crossed her arms with a huff and turned away, while Liz hung her head. "Anybody?" "We were collecting the eggs and Jozie refused to listen to me about making sure all the birds were out of the house before she tried to get the ones in the back corner." Liz shrugged, "One of the chickens shit on her while she was collecting the eggs. Then she started yelling and kicking at the chickens, and when I tried to stop her she turned and started yelling and swinging at me. That's about when Sam showed up and the little hell cat turned on him."

"I hate chickens," Jozie whined, "Why cant I make soaps and oils, instead of taking care of these stupid chickens?"

Alexa groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Jozie, I can't have someone here who only does the soaps and oils. I can't." "Well, why not?" "Because, it takes a long time, with a lot of waiting to complete a batch of soaps or oils. Sometimes weeks, depending on the product. I can't have somebody sittin on their hands waiting for the next step in the process, when there are other things that need to be done. Like, taking care of the chickens and collecting the eggs." Jozie pouted.

Alexa sighed, "Jozie, when I was explaining what we did on the ranch I talked about this, were you not paying attention?" Liz snorted, "More like she was making googoo eyes at Jake." "I don't want no comments from the peanut gallery at the moment. Don't you have chores to finish?" Alexa said. "Yeah go do your chores, butch bitch." Jozie sneered. Alexa rounded on Jozie as she stepped between the two girls again. "Jocylyn Marie Hunnywhether! I don't want to hear nothin like tha' come outta yer mouth again! Ya hear me! That was uncalled for and I won't have it! You have caused enough trouble around here today! First, you convinced Jake to skip his chores and sneak off with you into the woods WITHOUT his comms. Then, this shit with the chickens. Now you want to push it even further by sayin' somethin' like that! I won't have it! This is yer last warnin girl, one more screwup and I am adding your name to the next shipment out! The Angels'll deal with ya, find ya somewhere that'll teach ya to grow up and stop actin' like the spoiled little rich girl you were before everything went to shit two years ago! I don't have the time, nor the patience to deal with your shit! Now get yer chores finished cause you ain't comin in for supper til they are done, correctly, if that means you gotta do them 10 times til they are, that's what yer gonna do!" Alexa took a deep breath to calm down and turned to Sam, ignoring Jozie whining behind her. "Can you supervise her to make sure she gets her chores done?", she asked. Sam nodded, "Yeah, I'll watch her." "Don't let her sucker you into doin them for her either. She needs to learn." "I won't, don't worry." "Thanks Sam, I gotta get back up to the house and help Lara with supper." She turned and headed back to the house.

When she got back to the kitchen Lara was stirring a pot on the stove. "Mmmm, Whatcha got cookin?" Alexa asked "Decided chicken and noodles with vegetables sounded good, thickened it up with a bit of goat's milk and corn starch, so its more of a stew than a soup. Figured we could slice one of the loaves of bread we made this morning and set out some butter to got with it." "Girl your only 14 where did you learn to cook like that?" Lara smiled, "It was either learn or starve, Mom wasn't around much and when she was all she did was sleep. Had to take care of myself and my brother. He certainly wasn't going to do it. Besides I like cooking, makes me feel useful." "You're useful. You keep the communications up and going and keep in contact with the others so we know what is going on out there. Besides the fact you got a good mind for numbers 'tween those ears o' yours." "Yeah but I can't help around the ranch with my arm and foot the way they are." "Nonsense, so you're missing a hand and got a club foot, no big deal. The arm is healing fine and when it is healed good enough we'll get you back out working with the rest of them, just gonna have ta work around it, find the way that works for you. So, you said slice one of the loaves and the butter?" Lara hummed an agreement as Alexa went to the bread box and got out a knife to slice the loaf.

A half hour later they heard everyone coming up the stairs as the sun was setting. Jozie and Sam being the last ones through to door. Jozie unusually subdued and Sam with a contemplative look on his face as he watched her sit at the table. Dustin, Jake, and Seren were rough housing around, mock wrestling over who would sit beside her. While Liz went to help Lara and Alexa carry the bowls, bread, and butter to the table.

"Alright, enough. You boys find a seat and get comfortable or I might change my mind about a movie tonight." Alexa joked, with a smile that widened when every body let out a cheer and started talking about what they were going to watch as they settled down to eat.

When supper was finished and the kitchen cleaned up Alexa said, "It's Seren's turn to pick," and turned on the laptop with an external harddrive connected to the TV. then moved out of the way to let Seren pick from the ever growing movie collection on the harddrive while everybody settled down in front of the TV. He finally settled on a war movie called "We Were Soldiers" and hit play. About halfway through the movie Alexa got up and went down to the office. Sam followed her a few minutes later and found her sitting behind the desk with her face in her hands. He could almost see the frustration coming off of her.

"You know you were a little harsh with her today?" he said leaning against the doorway. Alexa sighed and dropped her hands to look at him, "I know. She just frustrates me! Why can't she understand that this is not where she was before? It's dangerous out here." "I think she knows, but she's scared. Everything she knows was stripped away overnight." "It was for the rest of us too, though. Everybody's scared." "Different people deal with things differently. I understand where you both are coming from, but you have to look at it from her point of view. She has a nice safe place, sturdy walls and gates, her family, and suddenly she has nothing. She was the darling little princess, nothing really changed for her two years ago. Then suddenly the walls were breached and she's all alone, left to fend for herself in a world that her previous place didn't prepare her for. Then she is dropped here and she doesn't want to believe she is safe. She did that once already and it bit her in the ass, almost literally. You gotta give the girl a little slack." "It's been six months Sam! How much slack can I give her, without giving her enough to hang herself with?" "You just gotta trust that she won't. Look, Lara is almost healed up and I know she wants out of this room and back to work. Why don't you shuffle the duty roster and put Jozie in here part of the day and let Lara get back out there? Two birds, one stone." Alexa let out a heavy sigh, "I guess I could do that. I'll look at the roster, see what needs done when." Sam came around the desk and kissed Alexa's cheek. "Thanks Sis, you'll see, everything will work out. It always does." He turned and left the room.


	3. Angel Base

AN: So short filler chapter for now. Will try to get a longer chapter out soon.

Chapter 3: Angel Base

Back with Rick's group, Present day:

When the camp started waking at sunrise after a quiet night Rick went over to speak with Pete to tell him the group's decision. "Glad to have you along," Pete said, "I'll get the map show you where we're going and give you a token, just in case." He reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out two wooden rounds about the size of a half dollar with the angels wings carved into both sides of it. They had a small hole drilled into the top of it and was hanging from a leather string. "Recommend you tie that to a belt loop and slip it into your pocket, so you don't lose it." He said as he passed one of them over then reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a laminated map. He walked over near the firepit that Carol was starting to relight. "Unless your fixin to heat water, don't worry about relighting the fire. We generally eat breakfast on the move."

Pete spread out the map on the ground and pointed to a yellow mark on it. "That's where we're heading, and here is about where we are." His finger moved a bit southwest and circled a small area. "We are gonna continue following the tracks til we start seeing more signs of civilization, then we are gonna head east off the tracks and circle town to come back from the north. Airport is a county one just on the edge of town. We fortified the fences and added extra defenses to the perimeter." "That's real close to town, how do you keep from getting overrun?" Glenn asked. "The town had one of those storm sirens in it. We rigged it up with a portable solar panel/battery and switch system, then ran a wire to the control tower in the airport. When we got a bird coming in or taking off, the tower activates the siren to draw them away. We only have light propeller aircraft at the moment, none of those real big passenger or cargo jets, so they aren't as loud."

Terrence came back into the clearing with Daryl carrying what looked like hunting cameras and some rope. "Got the warning system down, we should probably head out before it gets too much later."

Joey was digging through the packs and pulled out some granola bars started passing them out to every body. "These aren't your usual granola, got lots of added nutrients and protein packed into them. Should hold off the hunger pains til we get to base."

"How long will it take to get to your base?" Tyreese asked as he took the offered granola. "Should be there by mid afternoon, if we don't run into any trouble."

"Well lets hit the road!" Pete exclaimed as he folded up the map. The survivors followed the men as they set out following the tracks further north. About noon they started seeing signs of a town and left the tracks to circle it. When they had circled back around to the tracks on the other side of town they headed back south for a mile or so and then took one of the roads that crossed the tracks west. Turning a corner they saw the airfield. The gate they went up to had two guards who greeted Pete and his team as they came in.

"Hey Pete, got some tag alongs with ya?" "Yep, three are wanting safe passage to D.C. and the others are just looking for somewhere to settle down." "Well best inform the Commander so they can be checked over and then to figure out where to send them." "I already got an idea of where most of them are gonna end up." The guard he opened the gate to let them in and gestured toward a hanger with the number one on it. "Commander and everybody setup in there." Pete nodded and set off over the airfield with everybody following him. "We got a 208 coming in about 2 hours from now," the guard called out after him. Pete waved his arm to show he heard as he continued to the hanger. Rick caught up to him, "What is a 208?" "Cessna 208, one of the most versatile of our birds, can either carry cargo or passengers or both. Was mostly used for short jump package and cargo deliveries before the belly-up." Rick nodded and fell back to walk with the rest of his group.

The hanger door was opened by a woman who looked to be in her mid-30's with blond hair and brown eyes. "Hey Pete, good trip?" Pete snorted, "As good as ever. Found some folks looking to get elsewhere.", he gestured to Rick and his group, "And a few that want to get to D.C.", motioning to Ford and his group, "Will you let the Doc know we need him for physicals and the Commander that we need a baker's dozen of intake questionnaires?" "On it!", she chirped as she turned back into the hanger, Pete caught the door before it could swing closed and motioned the groups inside.

The hanger had been mostly cleared the right side had about 20 cots with folding privacy screens between them and the left looked like a command center with maps covered in various colored pins hung on the walls on cork boards and a woman who stood about six foot tall with brown hair cut into a short bob talking to the blond from the door. Pete headed in the direction of the two women while Joey and Terrence lead the group towards the back of the hanger where a small sick bay was set up. "Doc! Got some patients for you!" Joey called as they approached. A man stepped out from around a screen in the corner and looked over the group following Joey, then snorted, "Damn boy, where'd you find them?" "On the road." The doc shook his head then turned to the group, "Well, who's first?", he said abruptly. Tyreese stepped forward with Judith, "Probably should go youngest to oldest," he said to Rick, who nodded and took Judy out of Tyreese's backpack before turning back to the doctor. "Alright, lets get some basic information first," the Doc said, "Birthday?" Rick hesitated before Daryl said, "Trees were starting to bud, so mid-March to early April," Rick nodded his thanks. "So approximately 9 months old then?", Doc asked. "Yeah" "She on solids or purees?" "Purees" "Teeth?" "6 of them" "Should probably start phasing in solids then. Lets look her over." Doc turned back to the screened section motioning Rick to follow.

AN2: Well the two groups are going to be meeting next chapter! Now I have a question, Would you like to be given Alexa's Group's background all in one chunk or spread out like in short flashbacks. Let me know! R&R


	4. Interlude

Chapter 4: Interlude

After everybody had been seen by the doctor and given a semi-clean bill of health, "exhaustion and minor malnutrition all around," was the doctor's only find, they sat down to fill in the questionnaire handed to them by Pete. "Just answer honestly and what your comfortable answering. When your done we'll put together a portfolio of groups that are looking for new members and we think would fit best." "How many groups are in your network?", Rick asked as he took the paper. "Well last count I had was approximately 300 or so, but that number could have gone up since I last did a count." "300 groups!?" Carl yelped, Pete chuckled, "You gotta remember kid, we stretch from the West Coast to the East Coast and up into Southern Canada and in to Mexico as well. Considering the amount of area we cover 300 isn't that many." "Oh. I guess when you put it that way.", Carl said dejectedly. "Now don't get me wrong, Kid, each group is fairly good sized. I figure we got about 14,000 people in-network and that doesn't include the pilots and crews of my group. So overall about 15,000 people that we take care of." "Are there really only that many people left?", Asked Glenn softly. "More than that probably, those are just the ones we are in contact with, the ones that have places that they have settled and fortified. I reckon there are probably three times as many, if not more, that are constantly on the move because they haven't found somewhere safe yet or are holed up in such remote places we haven't found them yet." "That comes out to approximately 1 in 5450 of the US population has survived this plague.", Eugene monotoned in the shocked silence that followed. "Eugene," Rosita said, "Not the right time." "Oh, Sorry." Eugene said tonelessly. Pete studied Eugene for a few seconds before asking, "What end of the scale are you on, Son?" "Scale, what scale are you talking about?" Ford asked. "I am high functioning." Pete nodded at the answer while Ford continued to ask what scale they were talking about. "Eugene here is Autistic, aren't you, Son?" "Autistic! He ain't autistic! He talks and everything!" Ford said. "There are different levels of Autism, the most extreme cases _are_ non-verbal, but more mild cases or those on he extreme other end of the spectrum are verbal. The biggest clue is that they have few social skills and don't always understand social cues. Resulting in them saying or doing something inappropriate with no idea that it _IS_ inappropriate in that particular setting." Rick explained. "I'm jus' surprised ya didn't figure it out sooner, I recognized it the first couple a' hours after meetin' him," Daryl stated, with a shrug before finishing the questions they all had been given, while Ford sputtered indignantly and the others stifled their amusement.

After the revelation of Eugene's disorder everyone finished the questions and handed them back to Pete. "While we go through these and get things organized why don't you folks get some sleep," He said motioning to the cots on the other side of the hanger. "Thank you," Rick said as Glenn and Maggie pushed a couple together so they both would fit and one of the Angels brought a folding crib for Judith. Everyone was asleep not long after laying down.

 **With Alexa and Group: Present Day:**

"Sam! Can you help me and Lara get the animals settled and secured before the storm gets here!" Liz called up the ladder. "Can't right now Liz. I gotta help Dustin get this leak patched while it's halfway dry, otherwise we might be bunking with you and Alexa tonight", he answered from the half-story roof. "Seren should be around somewhere or Alexa." "Last I saw of Alexa she was heading toward the smokehouse," Dustin yelled down as he lifted the pulley with the supplies needed to temp patch the roof. Liz nodded in acknowledgment as she headed toward the smokehouse located near the goat shelter.

"Alexa, you in here?" She called as she stuck her head in the smokehouse. "In the back!" Liz made her way to the backside of the building where Alexa was butchering a large elk that had been hung to drain a few of days before. The sound of the meaty thunks from her blade as she separated the meat from the bones, readying it for drying, guiding her. "The tower just told us we got a storm rolling in in a few hours. Sam and Dustin are trying to patch the leak in the roof before it gets here. Lara is taking care of the chickens getting them secured, I could use some help with the goats." "Alright, let me finish this haunch and I'll be right out." She paused her swing for a second, "How's Jozie?" Liz sighed, "Getting better, she should be up and about in a couple of days." Alexa finished the swing with a grunt, "Good, I'll be out in a couple minutes to help with the goats." Liz nodded before turning to round the building toward the goat pens. She paused at the corner, "You know it's not her fault, right? Jake knew better than to go out alone. He knew the rules and the reasons for them, he chose to go after her." Alexa sighed as she dropped the butcher blade on the work table and dropped her head into her bloody hands. "I know! I know, you and Sam have been telling me that for the last week, Okay! But I can't help but think if she wouldn'a stormed off throwing a tantrum, he wouldn'a had to go after her and he wouldn'a gotten killed." Liz came back and put a hand on her shoulder. "There wasn't anything any of us could have done. We didn't even know he was gone "til we got his distress call. By that time he was already dead." Alexa dropped her hands and turned toward Liz revealing the deep bruising under her eyes from lack of sleep and bloody smears from her hands. "I know that here," she said pointing to her head, "But here keeps telling me differently," motioning toward her chest. The wind gusted and rattled the sides of the smokehouse. "Come on, lets get the goats in and make sure Lara doesn't need help with the chickens. Then Dustin and Sam could probably use some help getting the roof patched." Liz said turning to walk out of the shed. Alexa cleaned up the butchering shed and washed off the worst of the blood, then followed Liz out to herd the goats into their enclosure and secure them. By the time they made it back to where the ladders were leaned up against the house Sam and Dustin were on their way down. "Get it patched?" Alexa asked. Sam shook his head, "Too wet, had to just put a tarp over it and secure it for now. We're not gonna be able to patch it til it dries out some." "So, not til summer gets here, huh?" Liz said. "Pretty much." Dustin answered. Lara met them at the front door. "All locked up and secure?" "Yep! All the chickens are secured." "The greenhouses are secured as well," Seren said.

The rain started coming down heavier and the wind picked up as they all filed into the mud room and shucked their rain gear and boots. "Brrr, its going to be cold tonight," Lara exclaimed as she climbed the stairs to the top floor. "Yeah, we should all probably sleep on the top floor tonight, conserve firewood," Sam suggested. "I totally agree with that! Besides, our sleeping area is currently a little damp, right?" Dustin said as he nudged Seren who nodded in agreement. Liz snorted at their antics as she followed them. Alexa had a small smile on her face and shook her head as she double checked the doors and windows on the ground floor before closing and securing the sliding door at the bottom of the stairs before following the others upstairs.


End file.
